[ ] Over

A-ha - Take On Me

Getting up at 8:30 this morning because of last night...
Getting ready, everyone looking like death (also because of last night); Paul: you look the way I feel
Jerome picking us up in van; everyone looking/feeling miserable; sunglasses everywhere, people eating bags of potato chips at 9:00 in the morning, drinking lots of water, speaking very softly
Getting to reserve; beautiful place - coast, sand, trees, greenery, mountains in the background, ocean in your ear, sand in your face; sunny
Guide (marine biologist and ecologist) takes us around, climbing jagged protruding rocks, pointing out interesting plants/facts along the way
Everything is absolutely beautiful; we are still feeling like shit however and walking is not really helping
Climb down rock face onto a really nice beach; walk around, collecting shells and looking for life
Pass by a little freshwater stream on the beach - pretty cool
Walking around some more, going to the first cave (3 caves today)
Caves
First cave - dry cave, cool pictures taken, pottery shard was found there; pictures in the window thingy, hit head when jumping up; walking down steep mountain face, jagged rocks
Second cave - wet cave, called "Devil's Cave" because had massive hole in the ceiling that things could fall into; had to go through lots of tide pools to get there; lots of marine life - volcano barnacle has largest penis of any animal in the world compared to its body size, would be 40 meters if it were the size of a human; seeing starfish and anemones and lots of other things; skipping around on protruding rocks to get to the cave, whose mouth was in the water, part of the rushing water system; it was awesome - lots of cool rocks, the water was so clear, many smaller caves/alcoves all the way up along the walls; wanted to explore some more but had to get out before the tide trapped us in
Walking to third cave - passed by an awesome natural pool, where otters live (Otter Pool); also lots of great whale watching sights; learned about the 3,000 year long process of the milkwood (1000 years to grow, 1000 years to live, 1000 years to decompose); leaping around on rocks was very dangerous and incredibly fun
Third cave - stalactites and stalagmites, bats, natural freshwater swimming pools, drank some of the water then found out that the bats bathe in them...........; horror movie!!! bats flying in front of our faces, so much darkness; very interesting
Walking back, getting lunch at Coffee on the Rocks - good food, bacon and banana toasties, Greek salads, chocolate cake, pear almond torts, naartjie (something of an easy to peel orange) and passionfruit meringue pies; really cute bathroom path, awesome view of the ocean
Walking to coast again, getting on the rocks and waterfalls; changing into bathing suits in the middle of the rocks, going for a swim; getting lots of sun, climbing high dangerous points like it was a competition; Jerome picking us up again, going back to the house
Feeling a lot better - sweated all of the alcohol out of our systems but feeling really tired
Coming back, working out in the lecture room, Matt and Ally and Johan and Paul all laughing at me
Shower, doing some work, cleaning, getting ready for dinner
Everyone dressing up since it's for Julia's birthday - Dani: "Aobo walked out and I didn't even recognize her"; talking about horror movies/plots/books while waiting for taxis
Getting to party at Lighthouse Tavern, seeing Grant: "you lot clean up nice"; sit down at table with the guys, people drinking sodas and water lol still can't look at beers after last night
Eat a ton - salad, 500g steak, part of Matt's ribs, chocolate cake; sipping on port and coke and rums and tequila sunrises; being ridiculed for the amount of food I eat (again)
Meeting Julia's husband and Grant's girlfriend; talking to Paul and Matt and Jesse and Becca and Zoe
Doggies! three German shepherds, belong to restaurant owners, came around to us, we fed them parts of our food
Getting taxis back, Matt waited up to say bye; packing stuff while people getting ready for bed, transferring pictures to the group computer
Going to bed after packing, showering, etc.